This is a multi-subject spectacular. First we address the details of November’s strong words to the Secretary of State regarding Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai, from Ambassador Karl Eikenberry—who described Karzai as erratic, corrupt, incompetent and incapable of governing without US support, and strongly objected to what has since become the Obama Afghanistan policy on the grounds that it is open-ended and doomed—and then we conclude with this week’s edition of My Favorite Warlord, our long-running reality game show.

Somehow we missed it, but thanks to the [probably not safe for work and] inimitable proprietor of Swedish Meatballs Confidential, we learned that the New York Times obtained photocopies of the Eikenberry cables so that we no longer need rely on descriptions provided by Anonymous US Official.

We do, however, learn in the Times story that “[a]n American official provided a copy of the cables to The Times after a reporter requested them” because “it was important for the historical record that Mr. Eikenberry’s detailed assessments be made public, given that they were among the most important documents produced during the debate that led to the troop buildup.”

One can understand why that guy requested anonymity because even though Eikenberry has since said that the concerns he expressed in the cables have been addressed to his satisfaction, the proposed policies to which he took strong exception at the end of 2009 do not appear to be significantly different from the actual policies being enacted at the beginning of 2010.

Perhaps Eikenberry, who was the senior military commander in the country prior to his appointment as ambassador, decided that he was mistaken in concluding that the plan advanced by his military successor, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and adopted by president Obama would lead the US to “become more deeply engaged here with no way to extricate ourselves, short of allowing the country to descend again into lawlessness and chaos.” Or possibly he decided to sit down and shut up and do what he can to salvage whatever he can from a plan he still believes to be doomed.

One of the objections he raised was that dramatically escalating the war would reinforce the impression held by Karzai and others in his government that “we covet their territory for a never-ending ‘war on terror’ and for military bases to use against surrounding powers.”

Why on earth would they think that? It’s not as though the US defense secretary has described the US plan as “a gradual process” involving “100,000 American troops and 50,000 troops from 43 other countries” that no one should expect to see “head for the exits … in July of 2011″ because we’ll maintain “a substantial presence, in my view, well beyond that period of time.”

Oh, wait.

But on to our recurring feature, My Favorite Warlord. The rules are simple—there’s only one—and it’s a game that the whole family can play at home. All you have to do is pick one of Afghanistan’s premier warlords and than at random intervals consult Teh Google to see what he’s up to in the moment.

We here at BTC News have long favored General Abdul Rashid Dostum, full-time warlord, onetime member of the Northern Alliance, sometime member of the Karzai government cabinet and alleged war criminal. Although we’ll occasionally resort to former US ally Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is himself much in the news of late, Dostum is our staple.

Dostum’s charm arises both from his resiliency—he’s been in and out of favor with both the US and Hamid Karzai more times than one can be reasonably expected to remember—and because he’s the only Afghan warlord to turn up in connection with a LSD distribution scheme in America’s heartland.

Upon Googling him today, we find that although he remains out of favor with the US—those niggling war crimes allegations, and his alleged criminal activities, and his refusal to completely disband his once formidable personal army—he is once again safely within the fold of the Karzai government, this time in a reprise of his role as the chief of staff to the commander of the Afghan army, such as it is. He lost the job about a year and a half ago when he attacked a former ally’s home and then refused to cooperate in the investigation of the incident.

Although the job has little real power, Western officials and Afghan human rights groups see the appointment as a sign that Karzai remains unable to shake off his ties to warlords and regional powerbrokers despite heavy international pressure for a new beginning as the U.S. and NATO ramp up the war against the Taliban.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Monday he would press Karzai to rescind the appointment when he meets with the Afghan leader during this week’s international conference in London aimed at building support for the weak Afghan government.

“As we have noted repeatedly in the past, the United States maintains concerns about any leadership role for Mr. Dostum in today’s Afghanistan,” U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.

Among other objections, critics fear the appointment sends the wrong signal to the Taliban at a time when the government is preparing to offer the militants economic incentives to abandon the insurgency – a program expected to figure prominently at the London conference.

That bit about sending the wrong signal to the Taliban refers to those war crimes allegations against Dostum, which involve the mass killing of some 2,000 Taliban prisoners in the immediate aftermath of the US invasion.

As yet no word regarding Dostum’s status has emerged from the London conference. We’ll know more when next we play My Favorite Warlord.

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